How to Factory Reset your iPhone: Do You Need To Lose All Your Data?

Difference between a soft reset, a forced reset, and a factory reset  •  How to soft reset your iPhone  •  Forced reset  •  What to do if a forced reset doesn’t work  •  Factory reset  •  How to reset your iPhone if you forgot your password

We all must have experienced some form of bug with our iPhones at some point. Be it the inability to connect to Wi-Fi, or simply your phone going unresponsive, it can surely irk you. In most instances, the quickest fix for these issues is to restart your iPhone. That’s what this guide is for: to soft reset or force restart your iPhone, and in some cases, perform a factory reset.

The difference between a soft reset, a forced restart, and a factory reset

Any phone can go unresponsive at times, and the iPhone is no exception. More often than not, a quick fix to this is simply restarting your iPhone. When you restart your iPhone, or any phone for that matter, using the software option, it is what we call a soft reset. This does not result in the loss of any data.

A forced restart is fundamentally the same as soft resetting your iPhone, besides the fact that you do this by using your device’s hardware keys. You would usually resort to a forced restart if you cannot access the software option, which is the case when your phone is unresponsive.

Unlike the former two, factory resetting is a completely different thing. It reverts your iPhone to its original state when it first came out of the box. This wipes off all your personal information, content, settings, and any other information, and reverts the device to its original software.

A factory reset should only be used as a last resort, or if you’re having to sell, trade, or dispose of your iPhone. It is also a good idea to back up all your data before you perform a factory reset. You can read our guide on how to factory reset an iPhone, and how to back up your iPhone to complete the process without any hiccups.

How to soft reset your iPhone

A soft reset for your iPhone is simply turning it off. It can fix any minor issue that you might be facing with your iPhone, like an app being unresponsive, or some minor bug. It will not lead to the loss of any data stored on your iPhone, as all you’re doing here is turning off your device and then turning it back on.

• Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Lower volume button on your iPhone.
• Simply swipe the Slide to power off slider that appears to the right.
• Once the screen goes black, wait for a few seconds, then press and hold the Sleep/Wake button again until the Apple logo appears. This turns your iPhone back on.

In case you’re using an iPhone 8 or earlier, or the iPhone SE, you can shut down your iPhone simply by holding down the Sleep/Wake button until the slider appears.

• Alternatively, you can Shut down your iPhone via Settings, provided you have iOS 11 or later installed on your device.
• Go to Settings > General and scroll to the bottom, locating the Shut down button.
• When you tap Shut down, you will see the Slide to power off slider. Simply swipe it as instructed, and your phone shuts down.
• Once again, wait till the screen goes black, then press and hold the Sleep/Wake button again until the Apple logo appears. This will turn your iPhone back on, completing the reset.

If you cannot access the Shut down button on your iPhone, you can instead perform a forced reset. This does not require you to interact with the screen and often fixes any issues of unresponsiveness.

How to force restart your iPhone

Force restart your iPhone with iOS 16

• Press and quickly release the volume up button on your iPhone.
• Then, press and quickly release the volume down button.
• Next, press and hold the side button.
• When the Apple logo appears on the screen, release the side button.

Force restart your iPhone with iOS 15

You can force restart an iPhone running on iOS 15 with Face ID. This method works for iPhone 13, iPhone 12, iPhone 11, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and the iPhone X.

• Press and quickly release the volume up button.
• Next, press and quickly release the volume down button.
• Finally, press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears. Then, release the button.

You cannot force restart the iPhone 8 or the iPhone SE (2nd and 3rd generation) with Face ID, as both lack Face ID sensors. To restart these devices:

• Press and quickly release the volume up button, then press and quickly release the volume down button.
• Next, press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears.
• When the logo appears, simply release the button.

To force restart your iPhone 7, you simply press and hold both the volume down and the Sleep/Wake button at the same time. When the Apple logo appears, release both buttons.

Finally, there’s the iPhone 6s and the 1st generation iPhone SE. To restart these devices, press and hold both the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time. Once the Apple logo appears, release both buttons. Keep in mind that the Sleep/Wake button is located on the top of the iPhone SE (1st generation).

If you have an older iPhone running iOS 14, iOS 13, or iOS 12, visit these links to see Apple’s guide on how to restart these devices.

What to do if you can’t force restart your iPhone

If your iPhone gets stuck on the Apple logo or some other part of the process, you can try to fix the issue by connecting it to your PC or Mac. This method works for iPhone 8 and later devices.

• Connect your iPhone to your computer and open iTunes. If you’re on macOS Catalina or later, open the Finder. It is the two-toned face on your Dock.
• In the Finder, locate your iPhone’s name in the left panel under Locations. If you’re on iTunes, click the button with an iPhone icon near the top-left corner of the app.
• Next, quickly press and release the Volume Up
• Then, press and release the Volume Down
• Finally, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the iPhone boots into Recovery mode.
• In the iTunes or Finder app, choose the Check for Update or Restore iPhone button to begin resetting your iPhone.

The process of getting your iPhone into recovery mode can vary depending on the device. The above method works for iPhone 8 and later. Here’s how you can get other models into recovery mode:

• Models with Face ID. Press and release the Volume Up button, then quickly press and release the Volume Down button. Next, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until your iPhone restarts in recovery mode.
• iPhone 7/7 Plus. Press and hold the Volume Down button and the Sleep/Wake button at the same time. Release the buttons once the phone boots into recovery mode.
• iPhone with Home buttons (iPhone SE, iPhone 6, and earlier). Press and hold the Home button and the Sleep/Wake buttons at the same time. When the recovery mode screen appears, release the buttons.

This process could take a while. If it takes longer than 15 minutes to download the update, your iPhone will exit recovery mode automatically. In this case, repeat the steps to get back into recovery mode, then try the fix again.

If your iPhone is still not working after this method, it is suggested that you contact Apple Support to restore your device without losing any precious data or settings.

How to factory reset your iPhone, wiping it clean

First things first, keep in mind that a factory reset will revert your iPhone to its original state: no contacts, pictures, videos, passwords, settings, or anything else you added to the device since it came out of the box.

Before you begin the process of resetting your iPhone, it’s important that you back up all your data. After you reset your iPhone, you can simply restore the data or move the data to another iPhone. If you want to know how to successfully back up your iPhone, read our guide here.

Once you’ve done securing your data, here’s how you can factory reset your iPhone.

• Sign out of your Apple ID. This is important if you’re giving away your iPhone. This makes sure that no one else can access your account.
• Open Settings, and tap your name and Apple ID at the very top of the screen.
• At the very bottom of the page, tap Sign Out.
• You may be asked to enter your password. Once you enter it, tap Turn off in the top right corner – this will turn off the Find My app.
• Next, tap Sign Out in the top right corner.
• Confirm your action again.

Once you have signed out of your Apple ID, you can begin with the Factory reset process.

• Go to Settings > General.
• At the bottom of the General page, tap Transfer and Reset iPhone.
• Next, tap on the Erase All Content and Settings button at the bottom.
• The device will ask you to enter your passcode.
• Your iPhone will then create an iCloud Backup. If you’ve already backed up your data, tap Skip Backup at the bottom.
• Enter your Apple ID password and tap Turn Off in the upper right corner to turn off Find My.
• Finally, tap Erase iPhone to delete all your data.

Once the process of deletion is completed, your device will automatically restart. It will then bring up the process of setting up a new device.

How to reset your iPhone without your password

The process of resetting your iPhone can require you to enter your Apple ID password multiple times. If you have forgotten this password, however, you can still reset your device.

This can be done using iTunes.

• Connect your iPhone to a computer with iTunes.
• Open the iTunes app, then click on the phone icon in the top left corner of the window.
• In the left side menu, click on Summary.
• Click Restore iPhone.
• iTunes will ask whether you want to back up your iPhone’s settings before the process. You can choose to Back Up or Don’t Back Up.
• Click Restore and Update to begin the process.

iTunes will erase all the data on your iPhone and then install the newest version of iOS. Keep in mind that this process will get rid of all your data, so make sure to always keep a backup.